Scott Ruscoe insists he has remained calm as his The New Saints side picked up their first win in four Welsh Premier League games at title rivals Barry Town United on Saturday.

The win came after the champions suffered back-to-back defeats to Aberystwyth Town and Caernarfon Town, with two goals in the last 15 minutes from Greg Draper and Josh Nembhard sealing a deserved victory.

But Ruscoe admitted that while he was always confident Saints would get back on track, their recent form means victory in South Wales is more of a statement than Ruscoe would prefer.

“You can look at the weekend’s win two ways: if you’ve only picked up one point in nine, it’s not good form,” said Ruscoe.

“But if you look back at the last three games, we should have won.

“At Newtown, we had more than enough chances to win, especially in the second half.

“Against Aberystwyth, we huffed and puffed and weren’t at our best but we still only conceded from a corner and against Caernarfon, we absolutely dominated but they got a penalty which was against the run of play.

“We also don’t think that should have been given. But it’s small margins and it’s not like we’re being outplayed and not for the want of us creating chances.

“I always knew it would come, even though everyone was talking about a Barry win would put us six points behind them.”

Ruscoe was confident his side would return to Oswestry with all three points after putting his players through an intensive week, with the response impressing the TNS boss.

He added: “I was fortunate enough to get a performance at the weekend that I had seen coming all week in training.

“I don’t think it was ever going to be in doubt, with the way they had built up to the game.

“It is a bit of relief for me after the last few weeks. It put us back on top of the league, albeit it might be temporarily.

“So after 15 games, we’re top of the league and we’re not too far away.

“Teams don’t always peak early on in the season and we tend to come good around Christmas/January anyway so I was never really concerned as I knew that when we get back to where are, there’s nothing to worry about.

“But it is a statement of intent as Barry were a team above us in the league.”

TNS face Cambrian & Clydach in the Nathaniel MG League Cup on Friday for a 7.45pm start.